Yeah Josh!

Congratulations to Uncle Doug and Josh McKie who was selected to the North-South All-Star Football Game. Josh has worked so hard and is so very deserving on this honor. Of course we are very excited as well since my Dad truly believed in this game and all it stood for in high school football. The game will be played at the newly renovated Doug Shaw Memorial Stadium in Myrtle Beach in December. Wow, wouldn't Dad be proud!! We are looking forward to seeing Josh play several more games this year and representing the Mauldin Mavericks in the all star game in December. Congratulations to him and to Uncle Doug!

First snow of the season

Ava Grace experienced her first snow ever on Tuesday morning. Actually, she slept through it, but Cece did take a picture for her to see one day. It has been so cold with brutal winds the last few days. I can definitely tell that winter in the mountains is right around the corner. On the way to school and Nanny's on Tuesday morning, it was dark outside, about 30 degrees, and snow was flying all around. The ground was slightly above freezing temperatures, so the snow only stuck on the trees and bushes - not on the roads. The kiddos at school were going nuts!! You would think they have never seen snow before and they see it every year. I guess it is always exciting when you are a kid though! It was beautiful to see it fall, but I was glad that it did not stick. We don't need to miss school days for snow quite yet. There is definitely more on the way!

Busy Weekend

We had a very busy weekend!! When I got to work this morning, I felt like I never left from Friday. Ava Grace and I had a good week last week though. Ava Grace had a great time at Nanny's house everyday and I had busy and crazy (as usual) days at school. We had lots of rain on Friday which caused Ava Grace and I to sit in traffic for an hour and a half on the interstate in the afternoon. We needed the rain badly, but could have done without all of the accidents. Tim and the UNCA baseball team had a golf tournament on Friday as well. They actually played despite the weather and a good time was had by all. After the tournament and after we got out of traffic, Ava Grace, Tim, and I went to dinner with the parents of a current baseball recruit. It was really nice to get to know them! Unfortunately, Uncle Doug's team couldn't pull out a victory on Friday night - Mauldin lost to Boiling Springs.
On Saturday, Ava Grace and I ran some errands before heading to the university for the Bulldog World Series. Due to the rain on Friday, the games had to be postponed until Sunday. So, we didn't get to see any baseball, but Meme, Pop Pop, and Rebecca came up to visit. Ava Grace was soooo tired, so she slept for most of the visit. Rebecca did get to hold her for a few minutes though! Tim, Ava Grace, and I went home to watch some football before meeting some more recruits and their parents out for dinner. It was a long day, but a nice way to be with some friends and meet some baseball prospects.
On Sunday morning, Ava Grace, Cece, and I headed to Winnsboro for Lacey's baby shower. It was great to see the family and visit with all of them. Baby Cobb got some great things and Lacey looked great. Our cousin Erin was also there. She is pregnant and due with her 2nd son in January. She looked great as always and Grayson (her first son) is so incredibly cute!!! After the party, we loaded up in the car and headed back towards home. Cece went back to Uncle Doug's house and Ava Grace and I made it home in time to see some more football. Can you tell that we watch football EVERY TIME that it is on the TV???
So, that is about it from the Perry household for the weekend. We have started another week of work and going to Nanny's. I'm sure it will be a good one!!

Leaves, leaves, and more leaves

If you have never seen the leaf changing in the mountains of North Carolina, you are really missing out. People actually come here for weekends JUST to see the leaves change. Some of you may think that is not very exciting, but it is one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. The leaves in the higher mountains begin changing first with the leaves in the lower mountains and valleys changing later. As strange as it sounds, the lack of rain/water actually produces prettier leaves. I know that doesn't seem to make sense, but I guess in a way (a very small way) we can be thankful to be in a deficit for rainfall just so the leaves look as they do now. Although, the drought and water restrictions aren't very fun!

It is amazing how many different shades of red, yellow, and orange you can see. You can see the leaves as you drive up the interstate or around town, but the best place to see all of the different colors is on the Blue Ridge Parkway. I ride on the Parkway often going from Hendersonville to Asheville and am amazed every time as the leaves seem to change daily. So, here are some pictures of this grand event in the mountains. The pictures really don't do it justice - you need to visit!!

Recognition for being you!! :)

Congratulations to Uncle Doug and Luke!! Uncle Doug was named Greenville County Touchdown Club Football Coach of the Week! We are so proud of him and all he has accomplished while coaching in the upstate. We are biased, naturally, but we definitely feel like he deserves this recognition for many reasons. YEAH!! Congratulations again and good luck on Friday!!
Luke, our nephew/cousin, has been named Student of the Month at his elementary school. Luke is such a great kiddo and again biased, but we think he deserves it too! YEAH Luke!! Keep up the good work and we'll see you next weekend!
We love you both!!

Happy Birthday Aunt Deb!!

Happy Birthday Aunt Deb!! We hope you had a great day and hopefully we can celebrate with you soon. We love you bunches!!!

Lunch Date

We were so excited to have Aunt Natalie, Ellis, Mimi (Dawn), and Mammy to grab a bite of lunch with on Sunday. They had been on a mini-vacation in Tennessee and were making their way down through the mountains. It was a quick visit, but we will take whatever we can get. We just love being with them!! Ellis has grown since we saw her last time (which was only about a month ago) and is cute as a button!! Ava Grace and I are hoping to get to Atlanta for a visit sometime really soon. Thanks for lunch!! We love you!!

Welcome Home!!

Welcome Home Meme and Pop Pop!! We are so glad that you are back from Indiana for a while. We really missed you! Thank you for stopping by to visit with us on Saturday. I'm sure you thought Ava Grace had grown a lot since you saw her last time. She is so big now!! We are looking forward to spending more time with you and Ava Grace is looking forward to getting to know her Meme and Pop Pop better!! :)

Sports, Sports, and more Sports

So, the Perry family LOVES sports!! On Friday we managed to attend two different sporting events while keeping up with another event in another state. Tim, Ava Grace, and I attended our women's volleyball game at UNCA on Friday afternoon. We played Charleston Southern and were able to pull out a win after playing 5 games!! Whew! We enjoy going to their games for many reasons and Ava Grace apparently enjoys them too as her eyes get really big and she seems to watch the action closely. Her daddy is secretly hoping she wants to play volleyball one day! We'll see what happens. Anyway, Congratulations Coach Torbett, Talia, and the volleyball team.

Jammin' at the Justice was last night as well. We didn't stay too long because it was bath time and bedtime and Ava Grace will let you know when that time arrives each day. Jammin' at the Justice is the preview for the men's and women's basketball teams. We only saw the introduction of the coaching staffs, but we know it was a fun event as always and we look forward to attending many games very soon. We want to wish Kenny a speedy recovery and look forward to his return next year. A quick note about Kenny....Kenny George is the tallest Division 1 basketball player in the country and he plays right here at UNCA. He is 7'8" and has become sort of a legend in his own right. Kenny is back home in Chicago this school year dealing with some medical issues, but plans to return to school to finish his degree and play his last year of ball next fall. We miss you Kenny!! Good luck to both teams this year!!

Uncle Doug's Mauldin Mavericks played Spartanburg last night. We decided not to go this weekend, but were anxiously awaiting the results. We got a phone call to let us know that Mauldin defeated Spartan High (that is what we call it) 30-13. YEAH Mavericks!! Spartanburg plays their home football games at Wofford (my alma mater), but that big stadium proved to be the showcase for "our" team this week. YEAH!! Congrats Uncle Doug, Cousin Lee, and the rest of the Mauldin Mavericks!!

We're off to the pumpkin patch....

Tim, Ava Grace, and I went to the pumpkin patch at our church yesterday morning. Tim was on fall break and although he had to work, he was able to take 20 minutes of his time to accompany us. You could definitely tell we were first time parents with the camera. It was probably obnoxious to those watching us. Either way, we took some great pictures of Ava Grace among the pumpkins. We picked out a pumpkin to take home with us and the money goes towards the mission trips that our youth take every summer. So, we got the perfect pumpkin and helped a great cause!

Ava Grace is 3 months old!

Ava Grace is turning 3 months old today!! She has really grown and learned so much in the last month. The big milestone she has accomplished is to roll over. She has mastered rolling over from her tummy to her back. She is even trying to roll over from her back to her tummy, but she mostly faceplants into the ground and can't get her little legs to go the way she wants them to. Ava Grace also has become more aware and focused when looking at people and objects. She grabs things now and uses both hands to touch and hold things (although she uses her right hand mostly....we need to work on that). She smiles all the time and talks constantly - I'm not sure where she gets that from :) . It has been a fast month and so much fun to watch her grown and learn new things.

A Birthday Party

Well, Ava Grace attended her first birthday party today!! Kendall Stewart turned 1 year old today and had his birthday party at Hooter's. Yes, I wrote that correctly - it isn't a mistake. Kendall enjoyed a cake with lots of green icing which he wore very proudly on his face, up his nose, and on his t-shirt (his shirt said I Love Hooters by the way). He was also serenaded with the birthday song by the Hooters girls. As the girls sang, Kendall looked at them and smiled. It was classic! Ava Grace slept almost through the entire party. She was exhausted after a busy weekend, but wanted to be there to wish her baseball buddy happy birthday anyway! :) So, Happy Birthday Kendall!! We love you little buddy!!

What a big weekend!! Ava Grace and I have had a very busy, but fun Friday and Saturday. The weekend festivities began by going to Uncle Doug's football game on Friday night at Dorman. Unfortunately, the Mavs couldn't pull it through and ended up losing 37-6. Uncle Evan, Aunt Deb, and Brittany came to the game too (although Brittany hung out with her friends from Dorman). We were so excited to "camp out" at Meme and Pop Pop's house with Brittany for Friday night. It was fun to have a girl's night together!!

On Saturday, Ava Grace, Brittany, and I headed to Wofford to meet friends for Homecoming. I showed Brittany around campus a little and told her several stories about my adventures there. Don't worry...I didn't tell her the really bad ones!! :) We walked to tailgate with Becca, Remsen, and JR. Gance and Poppy (Becca's mom and Stepdad) also tailgated. It was so wonderful to see all of them and to introduce Ava Grace to them as well. JR has grown so much - hard to believe he is already 7 months old! Where does the time go? I have a feeling he and Ava Grace are going to have some fun play dates in the future. What? Just because he is a boy doesn't mean that he and Ava Grace can't play together when they are really young. After that, he is going to have to keep his hands off! :) Just kidding!! We also visited with our other good Wofford friends: Catherine, Will, Clara, and Parker Gramling, Lindsay, JP, Caroline, and Jack Patrick, and Sloan Fleming who had a weekend without her daughter Hannah. It was great to visit quickly with them. Their children are beautiful and so much fun to watch. Ava Grace was constantly watching all of the children running around her...probably wishing she would get away from me for a while and do the same thing! :)

After the Homecoming events, Ava Grace and I headed to downtown Greenville to meet up with Uncle Doug, Aunt Stacey, Luke, Kristi, Kameron, Kelsey, Beth, and Madison. It was Fall for Greenville weekend which means lots of food, beverages, music, kids rides, and overall good time. Ava Grace really enjoyed it as she was able to look around at everything and everyone. I even had a hard time feeding her at one point because the people around us were apparently more interesting. We enjoyed our time with everyone even though it was only a few hours.

So, we are now home and really tired. It was such a fun weekend though!! Hopefully we will get to see everyone again really soon!!

1st trip to Charlotte

Ava Grace, Cece, and I made a trip to Charlotte for my North Carolina School Psychology Association conference. Most of you know that I absolutely LOVE Charlotte and that I miss my girlfriends so much!! It was great visiting quickly with everyone - Jen, Kylie, Julie, AJ, Mic, Kristen, Laney, and Carlos. I only wish we could have spent a longer amount of time with each of you and in the Queen City!! The trip also proved to be good for both Ava Grace and me in another way. It was the first time that I have left her with someone else for more than about an hour and a half. We both did surprisingly well!! Ava Grace had lots of fun with Cece too!! I now feel better about taking her to the sitter's VERY SOON when I have to go back to work.

Thanks Fisher and Davis!

Ava Grace and I want to send out a HUGE thank you to our 6-month old twin cousins, Fisher and Davis. We visited the boys about 2 weeks ago and really liked the bouncy seat that they were hanging out in. We liked it so much, that I went and bought one for Ava Grace. She loves it!! She kicks her feet all the time, so the bounce in the seat really works! We saw that our new cousin-to-be, Baby Cobb, is registered for one of these seats too. Lacey, I think Natalie and I can assure you that your little one will love the seat too!

Happy Birthday Justin!

We wanted to send happy birthday wishes to our nephew and cousin Justin who turned 13 today!! It is hard to believe that you are a teenager already! WOW!! We hope you had a great day and we hope to see you soon!! We love you!!

1 more for the win column

Mauldin HS defeated Easley HS tonight 62-0!! Crazy score, huh? It is the most points Mauldin has ever scored in a game, so Uncle Doug set a record tonight. I think everyone on the team got to play since they were winning by so much at the end of the first half. Congratulations Mavs, Uncle Doug, Cousin Lee, and the rest of the coaching staff. We are so proud of you!!